doing it alone? All branches of knowledge must be considered in it. Do you know Mathematics? Do you know Natural History?" Johnson answered, << Why, sir, I must do as well as I can. My chief purpose is to give my countrymen a view of what is doing in literature upon the continent; and I shall have, in a good measure, the choice of my subject, for I shall select such books as I best understand." Dr. Adams suggested, that as Dr. Maty had just then finished his Bibliothèque Britannique, which was a well executed work, giving foreigners an account of British publications, he might, with great advantage, assume him as an assistant. "He, (said Johnson) the little black dog! I'd throw him into the Thames." (1) The scheme, however, was dropped. In one of his little memorandum-books I find the following hints for his intended Review or Literary Journal; "The Annals of Literature, foreign as well as domestic. Imitate Le Clerc-Bayle-Barbeyrac. Infelicity of Journals in England. Works of the (1) Matthew Maty, M. D. and F. R. S., was born in Holland in 1718, and educated at Leyden, but he came in 1740 to settle in England. He became secretary to the Royal Society in 1765, and in 1772, principal librarian of the British Museum. Maty being the friend and admirer of Lord Chesterfield, whose works he afterwards published, would, as Dr. Hall observes, particularly at this period, have little recommendation to the good opinion of the lexicographer; but his Journal Britannique is mentioned by Mr. Gibbon in a tone very different from Dr. Johnson's. This humble though useful labour, which had once been dignified by the genius of Bayle and the learning of Le Clerc, was not disgraced by the taste, the knowledge, and the judgment of Maty. His style is pure and eloquent, and in his virtues or even in his defects he may be reckoned as one of the last disciples of the school of Fontenelle." - Gibbon's Misc. Works. Dr. Maty died in 1776. — C. learned. We cannot take in all. Sometimes copy from foreign Journalists. Always tell." LETTER 39. TO DR. BIRCH. "March 29. 1755. "SIR,I have sent some parts of my Dictionary, such as were at hand, for your inspection. The favour which I beg is, that if you do not like them, you will say nothing. I am, Sir, your most affectionate humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON." LETTER 40. TO MR. SAMUEL JOHNSON. have "Norfolk-street, April 23. 1755. "SIR,―The part of your Dictionary which you favoured me with the sight of, has given me such an idea of the whole, that I mnst sincerely congratulate the public upon the acquisition of a work long wanted, and now executed with an industry, accuracy, and judgment, equal to the importance of the subject. You might, perhaps, have chosen one in which your genius would have appeared to more advantage, but you could not have fixed upon any other in which your labours would have done such substantial service to the present age and to posterity. I am glad that your health has supported the application necessary to the performance of so vast a task; and can undertake to promise you as one (though perhaps the only) reward of it, the approbation and thanks of every well-wisher to the honour of the English language. I am, with the greatest regard, Sir, your most faithful and most affectionate humble servant, "THO. BIRCH." Mr. Charles Burney, who has since distinguished himself so much in the science of music, and obtained a Doctor's degree from the University of Oxford, had been driven from the capital by bad health, and was now residing at Lynne Regis in Norfolk. He had been so much delighted with Johnson's Rambler, and the plan of his Dictionary, that when the great work was announced in the news-papers as nearly finished, he wrote to Dr. Johnson, begging to be informed when and in what manner his Dictionary would be published; intreating, if it should be by subscription, or he should have any books at his own disposal, to be favoured with six copies for himself and friends. In answer to this application, Dr. Johnson wrote the following letter, of which (to use Dr. Burney's own words)" if it be remembered that it was written to an obscure young man, who at this time had not much distinguished himself even in his own profession, but whose name could never have reached the author of THE RAMBLER, the politeness and urbanity may be opposed to some of the stories which have been lately circulated of Dr. Johnson's natural rudeness and ferocity." LETTER 41. TO MR. BURNEY, IN LYNNE REGIS,* NORFOLK. "Gough Square, Fleet Street, April 8. 1755. "SIR,- If you imagine that by delaying my answer I intended to shew any neglect of the notice with which you have favoured me, you will neither think justly of yourself nor of me. Your civilities were offered with too much elegance not to engage attention; and I have too much pleasure in pleasing men like you, not to feel very sensibly the distinction which you have bestowed upon me. "Few consequences of my endeavours to please or to benefit mankind have delighted me more than your friendship thus voluntarily offered, which now I have it I hope to keep, because I hope to continue to deserve it. "I have no Dictionaries to dispose of for myself, but shall be glad to have you direct your friends to Mr. Dodsley, because it was by his recommendation that I was employed in the work. "When you have leisure to think again upon me let me be favoured with another letter; and another yet, when you have looked into my Dictionary. If you find faults, I shall endeavour to mend them; if you find none, I shall think you blinded by kind partiality : but to have made you partial in his favour, will very much gratify the ambition of, Sir, your most obliged and most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." Mr. Andrew Millar, bookseller in the Strand, (1): took the principal charge of conducting the public-, ation of Johnson's Dictionary; and as the patience of the proprietors was repeatedly tried and almost exhausted, by their expecting that the work would be completed within the time which Johnson had sanguinely supposed, the learned author was often goaded to dispatch, more especially as he had received all the copy-money, by different drafts, a considerable time before he had finished his task. When the messenger who carried the last sheet to Millar returned, Johnson asked him, "Well, what did he say?"-" Sir, (answered the messenger) he (1) [Opposite Catherine Street. In 1767 Millar was suc ceeded, in the same house, by the late Mr. Alderman Cadell, whose son is the present occupier. 1835.] "I am 'said, thank GOD I have done with him." glad (replied Johnson, with a smile,) that he thanks GOD for any thing." (1) It is remarkable, that those with whom Johnson chiefly contracted for his literary labours were Scotchmen, Mr. Millar and Mr. Strahan. Millar, though himself no great judge of literature, had good sense enough to have for his friends very able men to give him their opinion and advice in the purchase of copy-right; the consequence of which was his acquiring a very large fortune, with great liberality. Johnson said of him, "I respect Millar, sir; he has raised the price of literature." The same praise may be justly given to Panckoucke, the eminent bookseller of Paris. (2) Mr. Strahan's liberality, judgment, and success, are well known. LETTER 42. TO BENNET LANGTON, ESQ. --- At Langton, Lincolnshire. "May 6. 1755. “SIR, — It has been long observed, that men do not suspect faults which they do not commit; your own elegance of manners, and punctuality of complaisance, (1) Sir John Hawkins, p. 342, inserts two notes as having passed formally between Andrew Millar and Johnson, to the above effect. I am assured this was not the case. In the way of incidental remark it was a pleasant play of raillery. To have deliberately written notes in such terms would have been morose. (2) [Panckoucke edited, for some years, the "Mercure de France," printed splendid editions of the works of Buffon and Voltaire, projected the plan of the " Encyclopédie Métho 'dique," and, in 1789, established the "Moniteur Universel." which shortly after became the official journal of the French government.] |